SDG 4 is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that the United Nations put forward in 2015 to achieve its 2030 agenda. It aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Here are some updates about the progress of SDG 4 in Iran.

Literacy and School Enrollment in Iran

According to the latest data available from the World Bank, Iran’s adult literacy rate (among people aged 15 and above) was approximately 89% in 2023. In the same year, Iran’s gross secondary enrollment ratio was about 85%. This ratio compares total secondary enrollment, regardless of students’ ages, with the population of official secondary school age. Additionally, there was a slight difference in enrollment rates in secondary education for males and females. The female enrollment rate in secondary education in 2023 was 86%, whereas the male enrollment rate was about 84%.

Challenges for Quality Education

The data above show high literacy and enrollment in Iran. However, on closer inspection, it becomes evident that Iran faces various challenges it needs to overcome to achieve meaningful progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4. Many of these challenges relate to poor learning outcomes and illiteracy.

Iran Open Data stated that, according to a 2023 parliamentary report, illiteracy exceeded 20% in provinces like Sistan and Baluchestan. Its October 2025 analysis also reported average national exam scores below 10 out of 20, with Yazd the only province above 12.

The World Bank’s April 2024 Learning Poverty brief uses data from the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) to assess reading proficiency among Iranian fourth-grade students. Learning poverty measures the share of children of late-primary-school age who cannot read and understand a simple text, including children who are out of school. The brief estimated Iran’s learning poverty rate at 42%. Reading is essential for learning across subjects, so children who struggle to read with understanding may face difficulties in other areas of education, potentially limiting their future educational and employment opportunities.

Cash Transfer Program

Several programs aim to address these challenges. In March 2021, Iran’s Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare began a pilot cash transfer program with support and funding from UNICEF and the Government of Austria. The pilot aimed to bring children back to school, keep at-risk children enrolled, and give vocational training to unemployed heads of household and adolescents aged 15 to 18. The first phase targeted vulnerable children in Khouzestan and Kermanshah provinces affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 2021 to July 2022, about 6,500 households with 7,215 at-risk children received cash and in-kind assistance. Of the targeted children, 4,652 (2,460 girls and 2,192 boys) accessed remedial education, and 464 of them, aged 15 to 18, also received intensive vocational training.

UNSDCF

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United Nations signed the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2027, and 2024 was the second year of its implementation. The framework has five priorities, and the first is socioeconomic resilience. In education, this program supported “Capacity building and technical trainings on Technical and Vocational Education and Training, artificial intelligence and tech-based standards.” According to the 2024 report, 490 young people and persons with disabilities improved their digital literacy and e-commerce skills so they could explore online income opportunities. In addition, 120 early childhood education teachers, 90% of them women, received training in disability inclusion. The report also states that 205 boarding-school principals, including 100 women, received training to improve educational services. The report says this training aims to benefit approximately 130,000 students, but that figure counts intended beneficiaries, not students the training has already reached.

A Braille Embosser and the TORANJ Program

In February 2025, UNICEF announced that it had bought a braille embosser for the Ministry of Education and the Special Education Organization. According to UNICEF, the equipment will improve access to inclusive education for more than 7,000 children with visual disabilities who already attend school. In June 2025, UNICEF and the Ministry of Sport and Youth also launched TORANJ, a program co-funded by the European Union. It aims to help adolescents and young people with employment, skills development and education.

Looking Ahead

These initiatives address specific barriers to learning, including household poverty, digital skills, teacher and principal training and access to textbooks. Programs like these cannot solve Iran’s wider education problems on their own, but sustaining and expanding them could help the country move closer to the goal.

– Elaaf Khush Bakht

Elaaf is based in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and focuses on Business and New Markets, and Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr